St Helena : St Helena Exco Report No 29 - 28 April 2009
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 01.05.2009 (Article Archived on 15.05.2009)

There was only one substantive item on the agenda of today’s EXCO. We were looking once again at the issue of a revision to our Constitution.

EXCO REPORT 29 – 28^th April 2009

There was only one substantive item on the agenda of today’s EXCO. We were looking once again at the issue of a revision to our Constitution.

You may well be aware that the present Constitution was put in place in 1988 and is particularly old fashioned. By that I mean that it is out of date when it comes to quite a few international legal obligations that the UK has undertaken on our behalf. I refer of course to the inclusion of a large section on the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Individual as well as a clear outline of the Partnership Values that exist between us and the UK. You may feel that the whole idea of Partnership Values does not sit very happily with the initiation of a pause and then a consultation period on our airport, but however much we may dislike that particular situation, at least Her Majesty’s Government is consulting with us, and that is the action of a partner. In any case, the draft Constitution defines the concept of partnership in a manner that is particularly helpful to us, especially when it comes to any debate about the provision of an airport.

A large proportion of this proposed new Constitution is virtually identical to the old and where there are changes they are modernising, increasing the application of democracy, simplifying complexity, or improving our standard of governance.

I have already mentioned the inclusion of individual rights and freedoms. You may not realise that our present Constitution does not guarantee your life, liberty and security. Of course we enjoy those freedoms here, but we will be able to enjoy them more completely when they are enshrined in the highest form of our law – our Constitution. The new version will also confirm our freedom of conscience, of expression and of assembly as well a guaranteeing protection for private and family life and the privacy of our homes.

As far as democracy goes, the recommendations include the fact that non-elected members of both EXCO and LEGCO will not be able to vote. At present they can. It will also be far easier for Elected Members to challenge the Governor where they may disagree with his decisions and there can be little doubt that the proposals with regard to the committee structure mean that there will be a more balanced sharing of power between Councillors.

The draft Constitution also clarifies the relationship between St.Helena, Ascension and Tristan, as well as making our courts more independent, improving the scrutiny of our public accounts, allowing for the appointment of a temporary Complaints Commissioner and ensuring the impartiality of the Public Service.

In short, this is a very worthwhile document and your Councillors have already spent many hours tracking through it with experts advising. In fact many amendments have been made as a result of our Councillors’ recommendations and this morning I was able to remind them of what those changes actually mean.

The Falkland Islands have already agreed their new Constitution and I know that both Ascension and Tristan Councillors are well on the way to reaching their own final drafts. Thus, over the next few weeks, we will be entering a phase of discussion and consultation to see if any further amendments may be helpful. The version of the Constitution under consideration today is available to the public as a WORD document by emailing Garron at public.relations@sainthelena.gov.sh or by asking him for a hard copy.

There were a number of matters considered under Any Other Business. Among them was a concern for the upkeep of roads, satisfaction at the cutting of grass on Longwood Green, and a desire to deal with the current rat problem.

I was able to inform Members of the plans that are in hand for the forthcoming visit of Mark Lancaster. As you may well already know Mark arrives here on 6^th May and he is the nearest thing to a Ministerial visit we have ever had! He isn’t actually a Minister of course because he is a Conservative, but he is the shadow minister of Mike Foster. That means that it is his job in Parliament to watch Mike like a hawk and to try and wrong-foot him wherever possible. As Mike is the DFID Minister responsible for Overseas Territories that means that Mark is particularly relevant to St.Helena at present. If Mark leaves the island convinced that we should indeed have an airport as soon as possible, it will make a great deal of difference to our chances of getting one in spite of any consultation. As Governor I have to remain neutral as far as UK politics is concerned and I am not necessarily predicting a Conservative win at the election in a years’ time, but I am stating the obvious that a serious commitment to our airport on the part of the Tories would be a major step forward.

I know that many of you believe that this kind of visit is stage-managed by skilful people in the Castle who try to fill the visitor’s mind with a prepared story. Well, this particular visitor wants to meet with and talk with as many of you as possible irrespective of your opinions. Even if what you might wish to say is that you are totally apathetic and mistrustful of the UK government – he will want to hear that. If you have a clear preference for either ship or airport – he will want to hear that, or if you just want him to buy you a drink, then hang around the Standard at about 4 pm on Thursday 7^th. The major public meeting will, I hope, be in Half Tree Hollow Community Centre at 4.30 pm on Wednesday 6^th – do come, and come armed with questions!

There is another issue that we discussed that I know is of concern to many of you and that is the fact that so many Councillors are currently away from the island. In fact when Victor Lines leaves shortly, we will have only 7 left. I would agree that 7 is too few, but they have all been here for many months past and it is unfortunate that these visits have coincided. Only one is actually a holiday and you will realise that Tony Green’s visit to the UN was a last minute decision that has a sound reason behind it.

One piece of good news that I was able to relate is that our Attorney General is likely to join the RMS at Walvis Bay and thus will arrive on the 6^th May. For much of his absence, Frank Wastell has worked with immense skill and dedication to fill two roles and we are all grateful for that but I know that all of us are looking forward to working with Ken once again.

During our coffee break we were able to show a group of vintage tourists from the “Rotterdam” the Council Chamber. This was much appreciated and I hope demonstrated a very positive attitude towards such visitors.

The meeting closed around 12.15 pm.

Andrew Gurr

Governor

28th April 2009

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